Taxpayers as enablers: The Jackie Whiton case

Sunday

Jul 15, 2012 at 3:15 AM

I never thought I would be writing a column like this, because I believe in helping people who are down on their luck and I believe the government has an obligation to provide for those who can't provide for themselves.

But, a most recent story in the news made my blood boil.

I was incensed by the story about the New Hampshire convenience store clerk who was fired from her job after refusing to let a young man buy cigarettes with his EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) card.

The only people who haven't heard about this case probably live on Mars, but for all of you Martians, I will briefly review what happened. On May 31, 65-year-old Jackie Whiton of Antrim lost her job as a convenience store clerk at the Big Apple after six years for refusing to let a young man pay for his cigarettes with a state issued cash assistance card. The cards are sort of like debit cards given to welfare recipients instead of mailing them checks. And, here's the kicker — they are allowed to buy cigarettes with them!

In fact, if welfare recipients want to, they can use their handy EBT cards to buy booze or go to an ATM and withdraw cash to buy whatever they want. Sadly, those activities reflect badly on the thousands of welfare recipients who really need and deserve our help.

And the headlines about EBT abuse are everywhere, not just New Hampshire. Consider these recent cases:

1. There's a big scandal in Michigan that broke Wednesday. According to the Mlive Media Group website, a 54-year-old Flint woman and two men stole "tens of thousands of dollars" in a food stamp fraud scheme using EBT cards to buy food for their restaurants and catering businesses. They would offer EBT cardholders pennies on the dollar to use their cards and them buy the food in bulk at places like Sam's Club.

2. Police in Lexington, Ky., arrested several people who were selling EBT cards for bath salts at a corner convenience store where they found 32 EBT cards that were likely traded for illegal substances or fast cash, according to the website Lex18.com, which belongs to the TV station there.

3. And there was this item from the Lawrence, Mass., Eagle Tribune newspaper on April 20. Police rounded up dozens of welfare recipients in the Boston-Quincy area caught trading their EBT cards for cash. State officials pledged a crackdown to prevent welfare funds from going to strip clubs and to pay bail allowing criminal suspects to get out of jail.

The idea that people can cash in their welfare benefits to buy cigarettes, booze, drugs or other substances they shouldn't be buying is beyond maddening. It makes all of us "enablers." We are using tax dollars to finance addiction.

The crazy part is the very government that subsidizes EBT cards, is the same government that has launched a crusade to stop people from smoking cigarettes. Remember those horrific pictures the government wanted to put on cigarette packages that show lung and throat cancer victims with stomas in their necks?

The government doesn't want us smoking, but it willingly gives welfare recipients an EBT card that allows them to purchase all the cigarettes they want. It's insanity.

And it doesn't end there. There is a growing underclass of people we support who are on permanent SSI disability for various mental health problems. The payments enable them to sit around all day drinking and smoking cigarettes.

Please don't misunderstand, I am not talking about people who are truly disabled and can't work. I am talking about addicts. I fully acknowledge that addicts are also disabled, and unable to work. The trouble is, the government is enabling them to live like that indefinitely — paying for their basic needs, including the booze and drugs.

There is no review. Once you get SSI, you are set. And there is never a suggestion that the recipient needs to put in even the smallest amount of volunteer work to make themselves useful.

So all taxpayers are enablers, paying to supply addicts with all the pills, booze and cigarettes they need with no end in sight.

I hope the publicity surrounding the firing of Jackie Whiton spurs changes in New Hampshire, but EBT cards are only the beginning.

Addiction is the culprit and there are no easy answers.

Mary Pat Rowland is the managing editor of Foster's. Her e-mail is mprowland@fosters.com.